Arrests, drug seizures do little to squash demand

Wednesday

Sep 28, 2011 at 11:01 AM

By Brian FreskosBrian.Freskos@StarNewsOnline.com

It was 4 a.m. on Sept. 20, 2010, and a yellow taxi was transporting a sizable load of heroin into Wilmington. The passenger in the car, Arthur Curtis King, had been the subject of a six-month police investigation targeting what officials later described as a kingpin operation responsible for 90 percent of the city's heroin supply. In the 200 block of North College Road, police pulled the taxi over to the side of the road. A drug-sniffing dog indicated the possible presence of drugs inside the car. And sure enough, lying in the trunk with King's luggage were 12,000 bags of heroin, a load worth an estimated $240,000, marking the biggest such seizure in the city's history. The size of the haul brought to the forefront a continuing trend. Anecdotally at least, the amount of heroin on the street is rising, not just locally but nationally as well. The most recent National Drug Threat Assessment, released in August by the U.S. Department of Justice, concluded that heroin is among several drugs "readily available throughout the United States" and the supply is even increasing in some markets. And federal officials predict the scourge will not abate in the near term. In New Hanover County, investigators say that in the past few years they have seized more heroin off the street than any time in recent memory. King's arrest set in a motion a court case that has opened a window into the lucrative and seemingly irrepressible world of drug trafficking. Wilmington investigators said at the time that King was suspected of bringing a similarly sized load into Wilmington every two or three weeks. But the arrest, police said, also highlighted a stark reality: That even when a suspected pipeline is squashed, demand for heroin continues almost unrelentingly, and someone else will quickly step in to fill the vacuum. "Drug dealers are like cockroaches," Police Chief Ralph Evangelous has said about the problem. "You kill one, and a hundred more appear." Among the findings in the recent federal report is that Mexican cartels continue to command most of the wholesale drug trade in the U.S., even as the government under Felipe Calderón wages a full-scale assault against them. The primary gateway for drugs entering the country, the report concluded, was over land, though increased border security is encouraging some smugglers to increase their use of aircraft and other alternative shipping methods. The uptick in the market for heroin has grown increasingly evident in eastern North Carolina, prompting law enforcement to shift their focus off drugs like cocaine and marijuana. The New Hanover County Sheriff's Office is on track to confiscate about 5,900 bags of heroin this year, the most since at least 2009. With the arrest of King, Wilmington police seizures hit a peak 13,318 bags in 2010. As of mid-September 2011, officers had taken in 3,390 bags, much less than last year but more than three times what was netted in all of 2009. "There has been an increase in the number of arrests and the … seizures we're making are larger than they were before," said Capt. David Ciamillo, commander of the county's vice and narcotics unit. The Wilmington Police Department portrayed the arrest of King, now 51, as a significant, if fleeting, victory in the war against heroin. In August, he was indicted on federal charges of possession with intent to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin and is currently in the New Hanover County jail. He declined to be interviewed for this article. Because of its highly addictive qualities and potential for overdose, heroin has become the prime focal point for law enforcement. "We have put a lot of effort into the heroin problems in New Hanover County because it's certainly been right in our face," Ciamillo said.In the face of stepped-up enforcement efforts, dealers and traffickers have adapted and modified their ventures to avoid the law. Investigators say corner dealing has given way to more covert methods. Pushers meet their customers in vacant parking lots, exchanging drugs for cash in their cars, public bathrooms or even the meat section of the grocery store. "They've gotten more sophisticated with us so we don't see them as easily," said Sgt. Will Richards, a member of the Wilmington Police Department's Narcotics Enforcement Unit. From a national perspective, most of the heroin is being carried over the country's Southwest border as Mexican trafficking organizations further solidify their control over most of the foreign-produced drug supply, according to the Justice Department. Once over the border, heroin spreads across the United States as smugglers use major interstates to bring it to markets as far away as Massachusetts. Investigators said that most of Wilmington's supply is transported down from the New York and New Jersey areas. The mode of transportation used to carry the drugs runs the gamut from cars to bus services. Most of the heroin stemming from Mexico is black tar heroin, which is rare in eastern North Carolina but more common in other parts of the state. That leads analysts to believe that most of the heroin in Wilmington is produced in Colombia and smuggled into the Northeastern United States, said Michael Franklin, resident agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Wilmington office. It is being trafficked down and sold by street gangs in the city, he said, who feel enticed by the quick turnaround and easy profits. "Here in Wilmington, unfortunately, we have a pretty big appetite for it," Richards said. "There's a lot of people who are using it whom you wouldn't think are using it." Wherever it comes from, heroin's scourge has investigators worried that more people will fall victim to its deadly effects. "We know that this stuff is killing people," Richards said. "We're supposed to save lives, protect people."

Brian Freskos: 343-2327On Twitter: @BrianFreskos

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.